Mercedes announce seven junior drivers as hunt for the next Lewis Hamilton continues | F1 | Sport
Mercedes have announced their seven junior drivers for the 2022 season as their hunt for the next Lewis Hamilton continues. Hamilton is level with legendary driver Michael Schumacher at the top of the all-time F1 title standings, with the duo each winning seven championships.
Mercedes will be working tirelessly with the young drivers and will be hoping one of them has what it takes to succeed Hamilton in the future.
And Mercedes chief Toto Wolff admits 2022 will be an exciting year for the youngsters.
“It’s going to be a really exciting year for our junior drivers and we’re delighted to welcome them to our W13 launch on Friday as part of our motorsport family,” said Toto Wolff.
“There are some familiar faces in the programme from previous years looking to build on their strong progress.
“And there are also several new members of the programme who have joined us this year. It will be great to see how they develop in their first season with us.”
Italian driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who was born in Bologna in 2006, joined the Mercedes F1 junior programme in April 2019.
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He has been racing competitively since 2014 and his successes include winning the FIA Karting European Championship, the WSK Euro Series and the FIA European Championship title.
This season the youngster will move up to single-seater racing full time in Italian F4 with Prema.
Paul Aron, who was born in Estonia in 2004, joined the Mercedes junior programme mid-way through the 2019 season.
Aron has previously raced in the ADAC and Italian Formula 4 series, before progressing to the Formula Regional European Championship, where he’ll remain with Prema this season.
Chinese racer Yuanpu Cui, who was born in 2008, joined Mercedes’ junior squad in 2021 off the back of a positive season of growth and development.
Cui’s father was also a racing driver and the young ace has been racing professionally since 2014.
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Last season he raced in the OK Junior classes with Kart Republic and will step up to OK this time around.
Luna Fluxa was born in Spain in 2010 and also gets a place in the Mercedes team after impressing in her initial seasons racing in karts.
In 2021, the Spanish-British racer mostly focused on competing in the 60 Mini category and also won the IAME Euro Series. She’ll compete in the OK Junior class this year.
Fellow new signing Daniel Guinchard was born in the United Kingdom in 2006.
Last year proved to be a breakthrough season for the young ace as he won the British Championship, the Ultimate Karting Championship and the British Kartmasters Grand Prix in Rotax Junior. He also won the British Championship in the X30 Junior class.
This season he will move into single-seaters with Argenti in the British F4 series.
The sixth driver, Alex Powell, was born in Miami in 2007 but is a native of Jamaica. He made his karting debut in 2015 and has made quite a name for himself on the karting scene already.
Racing is in his family’s blood as his father John is a veteran rally driver who achieved success in the Caribbean. Last year, Powell raced in the OK Junior but will now move up to OK full-time.
Mercedes’ final junior driver is Frederik Vesti, who was born in Denmark in 2002 and joined the Silver Arrows junior team ahead of last season.
In 2020, he finished fourth in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with three wins and raced in the same competition last year after moving from Prema to ART Grand Prix.
He finished fourth in the standings with one win and four podiums and is set to move up to Formula 2 this season.
